


Vultures

by RosieCheeks101



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence, Just not the one you expect, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 16:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6122944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosieCheeks101/pseuds/RosieCheeks101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Alec gets reaped he goes to the Capitol fully expecting to die during the games. And then he meets a guy, who also happens to be his stylist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alec shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and leans back in the seat he's sitting in, watching the countryside stream by. The events of the last day are a blur, he only remembers flashes. 

The reaping, same as it was every year.

And then Lydia had been called out.

The shock that had filled him.

Then his own name being called. Stumbling to the stage. 

Izzy's somber look and puffy eyes as she hugged him tightly while saying good bye. 

Max's tears as he begged Alec not to go. 

The pressure in his hand as Izzy handed him her necklace. 

And, finally, being ushered onto a train. 

He's vaguely aware now of Lydia hyperventilating. The Capitol representative clearly doesn't know what to do, and Alec wants to stand up and help her, but he can't find the energy to do so, he wonders how terrible a friend that makes him. 

It's supper time, they're meant to be having a civilised meal, but someone said something that caused the usually stoic Lydia to snap and curl up in a ball, crying and shaking. 

Finally someone carries her off to her room, kicking and screaming, and they go back to eating, as if nothing had happened. It makes Alec sick. 

When he's finished eating he pushes back from the table and stalks off, ignoring the blue haired woman calling after him that they have to watch the other reapings. He falls into his bed for the night and sleep envelopes him easily. He thinks it must have been something in the food. 

He wakes up half expecting to find that it's all been a dream, but no, he's still on the train, and Jessamine Lovelace stands in front of him with a green outfit and matching wig on. 

"Oh good, you're awake, we're here, get up," she says, darting around the room in a flutter, as if scared she'll disappear if she stops moving. He groans and sits up slowly, realising distantly that he's still in the hoodie and skinny jeans he picked out of the drawers when he got on the train. 

They get off the train and Alec takes a look at the group. Jessamine in all her green, Capitol-style glory looks so out of place next to a shaky Lydia in blue jeans and a red t-shirt. Next to her is their female mentor, a kind looking woman in her 40s who Alec has seen selling things around town. Bringing up the rear of their group of misfits is the male mentor, he's in his 30s and Alec has seen him drinking on the curb so many times he almost finds it funny. 

Alec soon finds himself whisked away to the prep team, and after an hour of plucking, scrubbing and brushing, it's time for him to meet his stylist. 

He sits waiting with a scowl, arms crossed over his bare chest. He'd been given specific instructions not to put the robe back on, and that 'Magnus' would be in in a moment. 

When the man comes into the room Alec does a double take, not that he'd admit it. He's a tall man, no older than 22, if Alec were to guess. He has brown skin, colourful hair and is wearing odd green-gold contacts, they make his eyes look like a cats. 

"Well hello, you must be Alec," Magnus smiles, and Alec feels comfortable in his presence almost immediately. 

Alec doesn't respond and Magnus coughs, "Hop up now, I have to get a look at you," he says with a gesture of his manicured hands. Alec stands up and watches as Magnus circles him, like a vulture. 

As he circles, Magnus talks, "So Lydia's stylist and I were discussing costumes, and we believe we've settled on one," he stands up straight, "You can put your robe on now. If you want, I won't complain either way." 

Alec flushes and grabs the robe, shrugging it on. 

"Come this way, you must be starving," Magnus flourishes and leads Alec through to a dining table, laid out with a number of foods. They each sit at one end of the table and Alec digs in immediately, not much caring for table manners. 

"Our idea was, as District 9 is known for farming and agriculture, we're gonna dress you as a Greek God and Goddess each, how's that sound?" Alec makes a noise in the back of his throat, only half listening, "You really don't care do you?" 

Alec looks up and shakes his head, "My sister Izzy, she would love it, but it's not for me," he cuts off, eyes welling up at the thought of Izzy, then of Max, and all of a sudden he's a blubbering mess. 

Alec faintly registers Magnus rushing around the table to kneel beside him, calming him down. Finally he stops blubbering, although he is still sniffling slightly, and realises he found himself curled up in Magnus' lap at some point. 

"I'm sorry," he says, struggling to his feet. 

Magnus shakes his head, "You can cry to me about anything you like," he promises, "So, you have a sister?" 

"And a brother called Max, she's 16, he's 9," Alec says, sitting down on the ground across from Magnus, "You really don't mind if I vent to you for a bit?" 

"Basically my job, well technically it's Jessamine's job, but I know her, have since I was a baby, she's rather emotionally stunted, and a terrible babysitter." 

Alec laughs despite his somber mood, and then he's telling Magnus everything, stupid little things like how he was eighteen, and had been so close to getting through without being reaped. He finishes, almost in tears again, by whispering, "I've never even been kissed," while staring at the floor. 

"Never, you've never kissed anyone?" 

"A girl kissed me last year, Lydia in fact, but I don't really count that," Alec's face is red now, and he buries his face in his hands. 

"Why not?" Magnus asks, confused. 

"She's a girl," he mutters, quiet enough that he hopes Magnus won't hear. Magnus frowns and lifts his head slowly and pecks him on the lips gently, "Now you've had a real kiss." 

Alec smiles slightly, "Thank you." 

"You're welcome," Magnus smiles, "Now get up, we have to make you look good for the vultures." 

A few hours later Alec is standing in front of a chariot with Lydia. She's wearing a beautiful dress the colour of straw and a flower crown in her loose blonde curls, making her look like a real Goddess. Alec meanwhile is dressed in what amounts to a straw coloured sack with a piece of rope around it. 

He's happy, he told Magnus he didn't want all the attention drawn to him, and that's exactly what he got. 

He looks around at some of the other tributes. The female district 7 tribute is wearing a long dress that phases from brown at the top to green at the bottom. Her startling red hair is pulled up into an elaborate braid. Her male counterpart is wearing a button up shirt of the same design and dark brown pants. Both of them are holding axes and not speaking to one another. 

District 10 are dressed as Cowboys, and the blonde male tribute appears to find the costume as ridiculous as Alec does. 

"Do you remember when we used to play games in the streets?" Lydia says suddenly beside him, and turns to look him in the eye, "What happened to us? When'd we lose that innocence? I know I haven't had it for a long time, but I cannot honestly pinpoint when it disappeared," her clear blue eyes are big and she looks like she's going to cry again. 

"I don't know," he says honestly, brushing one of her loose curls out of her face. She smiles as Magnus and Lydia's stylist appear in front of them. 

"Time to get into your chariot," the woman claps. She looks very normal for a Capitol person, she has dyed blonde hair, and pink contacts in, but is dressed in clothes that make her look more like she's from one of the richer districts than the Capitol itself. 

They climb into the chariot, and Lydia grabs Alec's hand, looking for reassurance. 

Magnus smiles at him before he and the woman get whisked away as the chariot starts moving. "Don't forget to smile!" Magnus' voice calls after them, and they look at each other briefly, before putting on their best fake smiles. 

When it's all over, Jessamine guides them to the Training Center, and they head up to Level 9 for some sleep. 

Jessamine Lovelace doesn't seem to care much for Alec and Lydia, gives them a few instructions about what will be happening tomorrow and leaves for sleep. 

The rest of them, which includes Alec, Lydia, Magnus, their trainers and Lydia's stylist, all join for dinner. 

"The hand-holding was a lovely tactic, it got lots of people talking," Magnus says. 

"What sort of talking?" Alec frowns, looking up from his meal briefly. 

"Capitol people love a good love story, and that's what they've all assumed of you," Magnus laughs and Alec and Lydia blush. 

"That's ridiculous," Lydia snaps. 

"I'm aware of that, most people aren't though." 

Alec nods, "Okay, well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed," he says, standing up abruptly and looking at Magnus despite himself before basically running from the table. 

Alec collapses onto his bed, groaning into the pillow. He hears the door open and looks up to see Magnus standing there, "What'd you want?" 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah, my dad'll be thrilled to know I've decided I'm over my little 'phase', as he liked to put it." 

"I'm sorry," Magnus sits on the end of the bed. 

"There's nothing to apologise for." 

"I probably could've told you that most of the tributes stand apart from one another." 

"You knew me and Lydia were friends, even if you'd told us we probably still would've held hands," Alec sits up, so that he and Magnus are looking into each other's eyes. 

Magnus takes his hand and squeezes it gently, "I can get Jessie to stop the rumours of you'd like, that's kinda her job, and the rumours haven't reached the districts yet anyway." 

Alec nods, playing with Magnus' fingers, "That'd be great, thank you." 

"It's fine." 

They sit in silence for a minute, still staring at each other. Alec's not sure who moves first, but he does know that suddenly they're kissing. He doesn't remember Magnus leaving, but in the morning he's gone, the marks on Alec's neck the only sign he was ever really there. 

For the next three days of training, Magnus continues to join them for meals, even though there's no need for him to actually be there. 

When it comes time to get their scores, they all sit around the table anxiously, Magnus holding Alec's hand under the table. It's not that they're hiding the fact that they're a...whatever it is that they are. But they don't want to draw too much attention to themselves. 

Alec ends up getting a 10 for his archery, while Lydia's knife throwing earns her a 7. 

Magnus kisses him on the cheek when no one's looking, whispering good job in his ear, and Alec feels himself go very red. 

That night they celebrate in Alec's room with a bottle of wine and a locked door and pretending that Alec won't be going into the Arena in just over two days. 

Magnus sighs as he pulls Alec's suit jacket on, he hasn't looked him in the eye since he entered the room to dress him for the interview. 

"Magnus, are you okay?" Alec says gently, and Magnus looks at him finally. He's not wearing his usual contacts, and his dark brown eyes are shining with a mix of adoration and tears. "I love you," he whispers, and Alec freezes, "You don't have to say it back, I just want you to know that." 

Alec nods, weaving his hands in Magnus' colourful hair and pecking him on the lips. Magnus wraps his arms around Alec's waist, pulling him closer. 

"You've gotta come back, not for me, but for Izzy, and Max," Alec nods his head where it rests in the crook of Magnus' neck. They stand there in silence for a few minutes before Magnus sighs and disentangles them, "Are you ready?" he asks, stepping back to inspect his outfit once more. 

"No," Alec says honestly, "I doubt I'll ever be." 

Alec watches the other's interviews on the TV, Clary from District 7 smiles and laughs at all the right places, making her seem kind and likeable and the audience and Alec alike are immediately drawn in. He doesn't notice the other's before him, too focused on calming Lydia, who's digging her nails into her palms so deeply she's drawing blood. 

His own interview flies by, he and his trainer settled on the stoic and aloof approach, having discovered that he's not good at much else. He honestly can't recall a single question he was asked later on. 

As he walks off the stage he passes Lydia teetering forward in red heels and a long ruby gown, she's got flowers in her hair again. He shoots her a reassuring smile, and her worried expression softens. 

She's cool and collected and gets a large round of applause after her interview. After it's all over though, she breaks down in Alec's arms, and he breaks down with her, because tomorrow they go to war disguised as a game.


	2. Chapter 2

Alec stands, shaking, a few feet in front of Magnus. He's staring at the glass tube as if in shock, and Magnus moves forward to take his hand with a gentle squeeze.

"I know you're not ready, I know you'll never be ready, but it's time to go Alec," he whispers, and Alec nuzzles his head into the crook of Magnus' neck briefly before pulling himself away. 

"I'll miss you," he says. 

"I'll miss you too, come back to me and your family." 

Alec smiles and moves to step into the tube. 

"Wait," Magnus says, grabbing his hand and pulling him back toward him. He dips his hand into his pocket and pulls out a necklace, Izzy's necklace, he realises. He must have left it in his room, "Your district token," he says as he puts it over his head. 

"Thank you," he says softly, the I love you goes unspoken, a promise that he'll return to say it. This time when he moves to step into the tube Magnus doesn't stop him. He moves to stand straight and confident, making eye contact with a fearful looking Magnus. 

The tube begins to lift him, first into darkness and then into blinding light. He blinks until he can see his surroundings. Nearby he sees a forest and is relived, that's good for cover. “Ladies and gentlemen, let the Sixty-seventh Hunger Games begin!” 

They all stand there for the necessary sixty seconds, waiting for the massacre to begin. Alec comes up with a plan during that time. Run from the bloodbath, come back later for supplies once everyone's gone. 

That plan goes out the window when the gong rings out and Lydia goes hurtling towards the cornucopia. 

Lydia's fast, she's always been fast, able to beat Izzy and him in races since they had been little kids. 

As he watches her, frozen on the spot, he realises she's not fast _enough_. She grabs a pack at random and begins to run away from the battle that's starting. That's when the knife hits her shoulder. 

She goes down to her knees with a scream as another one embeds itself in her back, and Alec springs into action. He starts running towards her, grabbing up random items off the ground. 

He hoists her off the ground when he reaches her, knowing that it's a stupid thing to do but doing it anyway. As he sprints away, at least three bags on his back, a number of things in his right hand and Lydia in his arms, leaning weakly into his chest, he realises that he's not getting out by pure luck. 

Clary from District 7 and the blonde guy from District 10 seem to be working together to keep people away from him. He doesn't have time to dwell on the strange act of kindness from the two strangers right now as he makes it to the outskirts of the forest. 

He keeps running for maybe another two minutes before he finds a tree that gives them some cover. He settles Lydia at the base of it and sits back to inspect her. 

"You stupid stupid boy," she whispers, laughing and coughing up blood, "You could have gotten yourself killed." 

"So could you." 

"I've never had any plans to go back, we both knew that," she whispers, her eyes soft and full of sadness. 

Lydia reaches up a shaky hand to touch the necklace dangling around his neck, "I love you, you're the best friend I could have ever asked for," she whispers, looking to the necklace rather than Alec himself. Then the hand falls limp as a cannon blast is heard. 

He reaches up and shuts her eyes gently, pecks a kiss to her forehead, and leaves her body to be picked up. He can't bear to be there when they take her away. 

He walks for a minute or two before breaking into a run. He's crying but he doesn't really notice it, too focused on getting away from the other tributes, and Lydia's body. After at least two hours of running through thick bush he finds himself at the edge of a clearing. 

He doesn't run through it, instead finding the tallest tree along the edge and climbing it after he's stuffed everything he was carrying into the packs on his back. He's suddenly thankful his mentor had sobered up for the games enough to teach him to climb, unlike District 12's only victor. Who was always drinking or arguing with the District 12 escort. 

He shakes his head to clear it of the thoughts, halfway up the trunk of a large tree was not the time to be thinking about the going-ons of District 12. When he reaches the top he looks out over the clearing. The forest continues on the other side, something he could see from the ground. 

What he hadn't seen was that the forest only continues for about a mile, before dropping off into a river. From the looks of it it wraps the entire way around the arena, but there's no way to be sure. The other side of the river is rocky and barren with a number of caves and the like. 

He makes a decision to go inspect that further in the morning, but it's getting dark right now. He goes through his packs quickly, there are four, and inside the first one he finds four throwing knives, a sheet of plastic, and a rope. 

He quickly ties the rope around his waist and around the tree. With the remaining length of rope he ties it around one strap of the pack, which he repeats with the others. The second pack has a small canteen of water and some burn cream. 

The third has a hunting knife, a hatchet, eight arrows, another sheet and a reflective sleeping bag. In the final one he finds ten more arrows and a wooden bow, along with more water, a box of crackers and a loaf of bread from District 4, green tinted and fish shaped. 

The cannon blasts, the ones that signify the end of the bloodbath, come not long after he finishes going through his provisions. He stares at the pinkish-orange sky as he counts them in his head. There are nine, adding on Lydia's, ten people are dead already. Fourteen left, including himself. 

He slips into the sleeping bag carefully as the Capitol's anthem rings out and images begin to be shown in the sky. 

_The boy from District 3, both from District 5, boy from District 6, girl from District 8_...he winces when Lydia flashes across the screen, glancing away briefly... _girl from District 10 _...that means Clary and the blonde boy made it through the day, he's glad... _both from District 11 and the boy from District 12._ __

He lays awake for a long time before he finally slips into sleep, and when he wakes up it's daytime. He wonders briefly if any more cannons went off during the night, before becoming distracted by the faint sound of voices, near the base of the tree. 

He rolls over very carefully to get a good look at who is talking, and he can tell it's two girls, he thinks he recognises the blonde as being from District 1, but can't put his finger on the other girl until blondie days her name. 

"Aline, are you sure your leg's okay? We can rest if you want," she says gently, and Aline shakes her head. Alec remembers now that she's from District 12. 

"No, I'm fine Helen, really," she smiles at the shorter girl and kisses her quickly, "C'mon, I wanna see what's on the other side of this clearing." 

Alec watches as they sprint across the clearing, holding hands tightly. Aline's leg is clearly injured, she winces every time she lands on it. 

They're almost the whole way across when a knife goes flying through the air, straight into Aline's neck. 

Helen screams as her girlfriend crumples to the ground and a cannon goes off. The tall dark boy from District 1 comes stalking out a little further down in the tree line, spinning a knife. 

"You really thought you could betray us? For some mutt from District 12?" he taunts. 

Following behind him are the blonde boy and red head girl from District 2 along with the black haired boy and curly haired girl of District 4. 

Helen takes one look at him and starts to run towards the forest again. He throws the knife at her head, it doesn't miss. Another cannon goes off. He turns around and grins widely, and Alec can't help but shudder at the morbid, sadistic smile. 

Alec unties the rope from around his waist and grabs his stuff, beginning to climb down the tree as the careers head in the opposite direction. He pauses at the bottom of the trunk, having the sense to pull out one of his knives just in case he runs into trouble, then he starts running, back into the centre of the arena. 

He doesn't have a specific destination in mind, his body is on autopilot as his brain tries to comprehend everything that's happened in the past 24 hours. 

The sun goes down below the horizon and he climbs a tree, hiding in the branches. It's not as tall as the last one, but it's high enough to give him a clear view of the sky. 

Helen's face appears first, and Alec's disappointed to see the guy from District 1 is still alive. The boy from District 8 is dead, finally Aline is shown, and then it's over. 

The next few days pass without much event, Alec rations his water and food, hides in trees and runs for his life. On the fifth night he's disappointed to see the blonde guy's face in the sky, but at least Clary's still around. It's just him, the Careers, the guy from District 7 and Clary now. 

On the sixth day, he heads back in the direction of the river, returning to the tree from the first day. There's no one in sight, but he knows the remaining careers could be lurking anywhere. 

The district 2 male, and girls from district 2 female and district 4 are remaining. 

He sprints across the clearing as fast as he can, thankful when he is safely in the trees. 

It takes another hour or so to cross through those trees to the small stretch of grass that leads to the water. 

Alec collapses to his knees and pulls out one of his two canteens, it had been filled with water, but was now empty. 

Suddenly a body collides with his own, pushing him sideways onto the grass. They roll a few metres before coming to a stop. Alec ends up on top, a knife to his attackers throat. 

The red head glares up at him, "I'd prefer you didn't kill me, I did just save your life." Recognition floods through him and he scrambles off of her, offering her a hand which she takes happily. 

"Why'd you do that? Knock me out of the way?" 

"You can go ahead and drink it if you want, but it's poisoned." 

"Oh," he glances back at the river, "Thank you." 

She shakes her head, "I didn't wanna watch another person die from it, it's horrible," she starts towards the trees and Alec follows her, "It's what killed the guys from District 1 and 4, and Jace," Alec notices her eyes are red and puffy, as if she's been crying. 

"Jace, he was the guy from District 10?" he asks hesitantly, and she only nods, "I never got to thank you guys, for helping me." 

She looks up at him, "It was the right thing to do. You obviously cared about that girl, I wanted you to get to say goodbye to her." 

"Thank you for that," he says awkwardly, looking at the ground. 

"No problem," she says, and pauses, "Well, we're here." Alec looks up and sees that Clary has set up camp just a little way into the trees, underneath a low hanging willow tree. The ground is covered with a plastic sheet, and lying on top of it is a sleeping bag. There are two black bags lying on one side of the sleeping bag, and two hatchets, a spear and a set of knives lie on the other side. 

"Bit of a neat freak are you?" he asks jokingly. 

"Not in the slightest, me and Jace camped here last night too, he was the neat freak," she moves to sit on the sheet, "What supplies have you got, we may as well share them," Alec joins her on the ground and pulls out the three bags he's kept. 

The largest of the bags is filled with his weapons. His bow, the remaining twelve arrows, the three throwing knives he hasn't lost, his hatchet and his hunting knife. In the second one he's filled it with the food and water. His empty canteen and his half full one, half a box of crackers, and half of a rabbit he'd caught and cooked the night before, wrapped in one of his sheets of plastic. The third and smallest bag has the rope, the sleeping bag, the other sheet and the burn cream in it. 

"Wow," she breathes. They work together to put their stuff together, first they put the spare sheet of plastic on the ground, then his sleeping bag on top of that. Between their sleeping bags they pile up all of their weapons, and they hang the packs from the tree with a rope. They pull out the rabbit and some beef strips from Clary's stuff for dinner and settle down. 

They eat in silence, although it's not uncomfortable. When they finish Clary takes Alec's sheet of plastic and cleans it off in the river. "So," she says when she returns, "You mentioned a boyfriend in your interview with Caesar Flickerman," she says it casually, and Alec flushes a deep red. 

"So?" he doesn't remember saying anything about Magnus, but it doesn't particularly surprise him. 

"So tell me about him, I wanna get to know you if we're gonna form an alliance." 

"Fine, his name is Magnus, and he's the stylist for District 9." 

Clary raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything, it was far from unheard of. 

"Your go, do you have a boyfriend?" 

"I did, now he's dead," she says it casually, but there's a hint of sadness to her tone. 

Alec winces, "Jace?" 

She nods, "A+ detective skills right there." 

"Sorry." 

She shakes her head quickly, "It's fine, trust me, we knew from the start at least one of us was gonna die." 

After that they go to sleep. They're tired and weary and fall asleep without considering one of them keeping watch. 

It's the early hours of the morning when Clary's scream pierces the silent forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post the next chapter in a couple of days, and then the final one.


	3. Chapter 3

Magnus feels Tessa settle onto the couch between Jessamine and himself. She's dyed her hair back to its natural colour and removed her contacts, like she does once every games starts, and looks far more comfortable.

It's nearly time for them to announce the dead to the audience and the other tributes. They all watch Lydia die in Alec's arms, and Tessa sobs softly. 

Alec's alive though, and to Magnus that's all that really matters. He'd liked Lydia, but he'd known she wasn't going to win, and so had she. 

"I'm telling you, if you two would just fall in love with someone who wasn't about to be sent into a death arena all our lives would be much more pleasant," Jessamine says, hopping up and wandering into the kitchen. 

"I tried that before Jessie, remember Camille?" Magnus calls back, not taking his eyes off the television. 

"Ugh. Fine, maybe you two should just not be allowed to fall in love at all. I mean, how many tributes have you fallen for Tess? Two? Wait no three, and where are they now?" 

Tessa tenses beside Magnus and he sighs, giving her hand a gentle squeeze before getting up to follow Jessamine into the kitchen, "Not cool." 

"Oh come on, the last one was three years ago, remember? That's plenty of time to get over it," Jess shrugs, "Jem, Sophie, Will. They all died. What d'you think's gonna happen to your little lover boy, hmm?" 

"Are you trying to get kicked out of my apartment Jessamine?" 

"Course not, 'm just saying what no one else will," she shrugs, her blonde fringe falling in her eyes as she fills a mug with milk. 

He rolls his eyes, "Don't say anything else to her about them or you won't be welcome here anymore." 

She makes an indignant noise, and something inside her seems to...snap, "Three years in a row I picked up the pieces after they broke her heart, three goddamn years, and she doesn't give me the time of day half the goddamn time!" she snarls, and his expression softens. 

"Jess-" he begins, but she barges passed him, the contents of her mug threatening to spill over the edge. 

"Forget it," she snaps, and they don't bring it up again. 

On the second day Jessamine barges into his apartment and collapses over his and Tessa's laps, distracting them from Clary of District 7 and Jace of District 10 harvesting for berries. 

"My life is over!" 

"There are people dying Jess," Tessa groans, pushing the blonde to the ground. 

"Yes, and I'm gonna die too if I can't get out of babysitting for Charlotte and Henry's little brats!" 

"Now why would anyone want you to babysit their children, given your track record," Magnus mocks, glancing quickly at the screen. 

"I'm a brilliant babysitter." 

"You lost me in a three room apartment when I was four," he reminds her, which makes her scowl up at him from the ground. 

"You were a little brat too, both of you were," she says, waving an accusing finger. 

"Alec's on the screen," Tessa announces, and Magnus' head snaps up. He's sitting in the top of a tree, watching someone they can't see, terror evident in his blue eyes. 

Then the camera cuts to the careers crowding around a brunette girl, a dead girl lying at her feet. 

She tries to run. Magnus looks away as the district one guy throws the knife. 

Jessamine stays quiet about babysitting woes the rest of the day. 

The third day passes without event. Tessa sleeps through most of the fourth day and Jessamine keeps him company. 

She puts a plate of sandwiches down on the coffee table, "Eat," she orders. 

He reaches out a hand to pluck a sandwich off the plate, "They're not poisoned are they?" 

She slaps him across the back of the head, "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the Wicked Witch of the West." 

He smiles at her and takes a bite of the sandwich, wincing at the taste but manages to swallow it, as she sits down beside him. 

"How's he going?" she asks. 

"Good, he's lying low." 

"That's good," she says, and they fall into a comfortable silence. 

After a few minutes she speaks up again, "What's it like?" 

He spares a glance at her, "What?" 

"Being in love." 

"Impossible to describe," he says, "You've been in love before haven't you?" 

"No. Two engagements, a million failed dates, a handful of good ones and I've never been in love," she sighs and leans her head on his shoulder. 

They both ignore the elephant in the room, the conversation they had in the kitchen three days ago. Instead they're perfectly content to watch the tv together, neither wanting to fall asleep. 

Day five brings with it the discovery that the lake is poisoned. 

Magnus is surprised no one's drunk out of it before now, but he supposes that must have been why so many of the packs had canteens in them. They'd been banking on it being a late surprise. 

Jace writhes around on the ground, his skin blistering and his mouth open in a silent scream. 

Clary can do nothing but stand there, and close his eyes when he finally stops moving. 

Jessamine drifts inside soon after he dies wrapped in a large coat with a scarf. She's carrying a box of biscuits Magnus recognises from the bakery near Charlotte's house, apparently having given up on trying to make food herself. 

"They played it in the city, everywhere I turned, I saw that kid dying," she says with a thud as she lands on the couch. 

"How was babysitting?" Tessa asks, eager to change to subject. 

"Charlie is a far better kid than you two ever were," the blonde says, "Matthew however was an unforeseen difficulty." 

Tessa snorts, that's Jessamine talk for 'a normal kid', "How do you not know what their kids are like? You live with them!" 

"I am taking up temporary residence in their home until I can gather together the means with which to purchase my own apartment," she corrects robotically, like she's rehearsed it a thousand times. 

They both just look at each other and shake their heads, which causes her to make a soft 'humph' noise. 

"Would you two just eat the biscuits and stop judging me!" 

By the sixth day of the games Magnus notices the camera going to Alec less and less. Just a few shots of him joining Clary and them settling in for the night. That means Alec is staying out of trouble, which Magnus tells himself is a good thing. 

Tessa taps his shoulder and hands him a mug of coffee, "You should sleep." 

"Giving me death juice is gonna help that how?" 

"I said you should sleep, I don't actually expect you to," she sits beside him with her own mug, curling her legs up underneath her, "I remember them all you know? Watching every single one of them fight for their lives," she says quietly. 

He doesn't say anything, and neither does she. They're both thinking about sitting on Tessa's couch with clasped hands. 

Watching sweet Jem die slowly, writhing in pain as the poison spread through his body. Magnus had been 16 at the time, and Tessa 18. 

Then there was delicate Sophie. He remembered watching her trapped underneath one of the career tributes, a cut on her face bleeding profusely. And then she'd managed to flip him, and had driven his own knife through his chest. 

She'd stumbled off the body in horror and promptly been impaled by a throwing spear. 

With Magnus finally being of age he'd joined Tessa as stylist and together they'd watched Will's cockiness and morales defeat him. 

He'd promised his little sister he wouldn't kill unless it was deemed absolutely necessary. He'd cornered the district 12 girl, let her go, and been literally stabbed in the back. 

"You were always there for me, always there to tell me they'd fight to return to me," she smiles and takes his hand, "He's gonna fight." 

Maybe it's their conversation, or maybe it's the effects of the coffee wearing off or maybe it's knowing Alec's staying out of trouble and has gotten himself an alliance but Magnus drifts asleep that night for the first time all games. 

A small hand on his arm wakes Magnus up. It's late at night, he can tell, and the first thing he registers is Tessa is gone, probably went into the spare room to sleep. Then he registers a teary eyed Jessamine. 

She doesn't say anything, but he looks at the screen and sees that there's someone standing over Alec holding a sword. He looks away as the weapon goes down and the cannon goes off. 

Then Clary is screaming, and she's grabbing up a spear and charging at Alec's attacker. His sword is still buried in Alec's body and he has nothing to defend himself with as she impales his chest. 

Clary mutters something Magnus can't quite make out before driving the spear in deeper until she hears the cannon, collects her stuff, and runs off in the direction of the river, presumably to try and make it to the caves. 

At least that's what he thinks is happening, based on what he can hear wrapped in Jessamine's arms. 

The move doesn't earn Clary many fans, but she's determined. Just two days later she wins. Magnus watches through still teary eyes as the girl from District 4 chases after Clary, who ducks and weaves through the trees. 

Clary scrambles up a tree and the girl follows quickly after her. 

In a panic Clary kicks the girl in the stomach, and she falls to the ground and hits her head on a rock. Clary doesn't move for hours, but finally the other girl bleeds out, and the cannon goes off. 

"Ladies and gentleman. I give you, the winner of the Sixty-seventh annual hunger games!"


	4. Chapter 4

Clary's hands fumble over herself in the hovercraft, looking for injuries.

They had told her she was fine, she knows that, but she can't stop thinking she can feel some phantom cut on her leg, bleeding the life out of her slowly. But when her fingers find their way there it's dry. 

She cooperates easily when they make it back to the training centre, following blindly as she's lead somewhere. Her stylist, trainer, and Capitol representative are all waiting to welcome her back. 

Clary goes straight for the stylist Dot, hugging her tightly. When she pulls away Dot is crying, and Clary supposes she is too. 

"I-I have one request," she says softly. 

\----- 

Magnus thinks back to one of the few times in their short relationship Alec had been the one doing all the talking. 

... 

_They had been curled up on Alec's bed and Alec was talking about his family._

_"My parents hate me, they didn't even come to say goodbye. They told Izzy she wasn't allowed to go either," he was saying softly, "'Course that didn't stop her, she picked up Max and stormed out of the house, straight down to the town centre. They didn't bother to come after her."_

_Magnus had kissed him on the forehead gently, and the ghost of a smile had flittered across the younger boy's face._

... 

Remembering that, he pushes passed the inconvenienced looking couple in front of him and hands the pile of Alec's clothes, gleaming necklace right on top, to the teary-eyed girl and boy standing behind them. 

"He'd have wanted me to give these to you two," he says, and Max breaks down completely, but Izzy takes the clothes calmly. 

"You were the guy weren't you?" she asks, and he can feel the parents glaring daggers in his back. 

"Yeah," he nods, and she smiles again. Maybe she was going to say more, but Jessamine chooses that moment to come stumbling into the room. 

"Magnus? I'm really sorry but you're needed elsewhere." 

\----- 

Magnus knows tributes are allowed to request a new stylist when they come out of the games, but it's not something he's ever thought would _actually_ happen. 

But now he's being dragged in front of a shaky, red headed sixteen year old and being told he's her new stylist. 

After the initial surprise wears off he claps his hands, "Okay, let's get started," he says, putting on an air of confidence. 

Clary proves to be just as interested in fashion as Alec had been, and halfway through Magnus sketching out ideas for her he realises she's asleep. He can't say he blames her. 

When she wakes up he's drawn thirteen dresses for her, each neatly labelled with the corresponding district or event they will be worn in. 

"They're really pretty," she mutters half-heartedly, running a hand over the drawings. 

"Thanks," he smiles, gathering them up, "I suppose congratulations are in order?" 

The question makes her soft expression harden, "For what? Watching my boyfriend die? Getting your boyfriend killed? Killing that Maureen girl from District 4?" 

He sighs and sits back down with her, "You did what you had to do to survive," he tries to reassure her, but she pushes back from the table without looking at him and leaves the room. 

He rubs his face with his hands. 

\----- 

When Jessamine comes in a few minutes later to check on him she finds the drawings everywhere, the table overturned and Magnus sitting on the floor, chin on his knees. 

"I sincerely hope you did this after the poor child left," she says, beginning to pick up the paper. 

When she's done she sits down beside him, "You're gonna get passed this you know, I promise. I know you feel like shit now, but you're gonna beat this." 

"I'm never going to forget him," he says with a shake of his head. 

"I said you'll get over the shitty feeling, not get over him, there's a drastic difference." 

Magnus rests his head on her shoulder, letting himself cry. 

\----- 

She's back in the arena. She's not sure how it happened, but she's screaming, and Alec is lying there with a sword sticking out of his throat. At least he hadn't known it was coming. 

She grabs up her spear and charges for the shadowy figure. It's only when the spear is buried in to his stomach that she recognises the face. 

"H-hey sis," he manages a patronising tone even while dying. 

"Jonathan?" 

"The one and only, I bet you're gonna have nightmares for years about killing your own brother," he mocks, and she suddenly has flashbacks to all the times during their childhood that he hurt her, or touched her, or tried to control her, and she shakes her head. 

"You were never my brother, you were the monster under the bed," she drives the spear in deeper, twisting it. 

She wakes up with a scream, her chest heaving and her hair falling in her teary eyes. She looks around in confusion before remembering she's in the training centre. A short woman with dark brown hair wearing a long, sparkly t-shirt comes rushing into the room. 

Clary jumps up, her first instinct is flight or fight, and the woman holds up her hands, "Woah woah woah, I'm friendly, I'm Magnus' friend." 

Clary remembers then that she's sharing the District 7 apartment with Magnus at the moment, and wonders if he's really moved on so quickly. 

"I'm Tessa," she says, still keeping her distance. 

"Why are you here?" Clary snaps, unable to hide her hostility. 

"Magnus asked me to help with your announcement dress, for the ceremony tomorrow? We lost track of time and I ended up having to borrow a t-shirt, I'm sleeping on the couch," she smiles. 

Clary nods, supposing that story made more sense then the idea of Magnus, who Clary had never seen not crying so far, happily moving on from his recently murdered boyfriend. 

"You had a dream about the games didn't you?" Tessa asks, sitting down in the chair by the bed. Clary sighs, she obviously isn't planning on leaving anytime soon. 

"About killing Jonathan." 

"He was your brother, right?" 

She shakes her head, "Just because we had the same parents doesn't mean he was my brother." 

Tessa doesn't reply, instead changing the subject, "Why'd you request Magnus?" 

The red head shrugs, "I-I feel personally responsible, for Alec dying. I should have thought to stay awake on guard duty. And Jonathan was coming after me! If Alec just hadn't been there..." 

"It's not your fault," Tessa says, placing a calming hand on the bed. 

Tessa has a calming presence, and Clary breathing evens as she calms down, "Thanks," she says, and for the first time since Jace died really smiles. 

\----- 

"Clary biscuit, it's time to get up," Magnus says, shaking her shoulder gently. When she stirs and her eyes open he smiles and moves on to waking up Tessa, who fell asleep in the chair, her hand still outstretched. 

They eat breakfast together, Clary scoffs it down in under ten minutes but doesn't seem tempted to have more, which makes him frown slightly but say nothing. 

Jessamine has joined them, and she and Tessa are talking enough that the lack of words from Clary and himself is barely noticeable. He notices Jessie's eyes lingering on Tessa for longer than strictly necessary, but tells himself not to stare. 

When they're all done the make-up crew come in and Tessa and Jessamine leave together. 

Magnus smiles, if slightly sadly, at her, slumped on the couch, "Hop up, we have to make you look good for the vultures."


End file.
